Tabs

Monday, 31 July 2017

Winner of The Apprentice 2015 Joseph Valante: ‘Try not to stress about your exam results – just take control when the time comes’

Joseph Valante, who won The Apprentice in 2015, wants to
give a clear message to stressed-out young people who are waiting for exam
results: ‘Don’t panic – if you don’t get the results you want, just take
control and get the information you need to move on.’

Joseph has some serious first-hand knowledge of what it
feels like to have to make alternative choices when things don’t go according
to plan.

Having been expelled at the age of 15, he turned his life
around when a local plumbing firm offered him an apprenticeship and from there
he got into college and changed the direction of his whole life.

Joseph, who is now a successful businessman in his own
right, said: “I was an off-the-rails teenager, hated going to school and had
loads of issues about education. So, quite rightly, when my behaviour got too
much the school decided it was time to let me go.

“It was that realisation that made me completely re-look at
my life and I knew I had to take control to get what I wanted.

“There’s no doubt that having something like exam results
hanging over you can be a really worrying time – loads of people think ‘what
happens if I’ve not done well enough?’ or ‘what will happen if I’ve failed’?

“But the truth is there is always a way through even if the
marks mean you have to deviate from your original path, with the right help and
some courage you can work out a new way of doing things that will get you where
you want to go.”

Joseph, aged 27,
gained his qualifications, took out a personal loan and branched out on
his own to form ImpraGas in 2012. In 2015, he took part in The Apprentice and
won.

In 2017 Joseph bought back his company from successful
businessman Lord Alan Sugar, who fronts the BBC show, and has tripled his
turnover in just six months to over £2 million.

Joseph said: “It’s easy to think that
something big like getting your exam results is the end of something – but it’s
actually the beginning. Your life is your life – no one else is going to live
it for you, so if you get an unexpected result make sure you pick up the phone
to the Exam Results Helpline. It’s free and it’s a resource made available
especially for people in this situation.

“But that phone is not going to jump into
your hand and call itself, it’s up to you. So, don’t panic, don’t stress, just
take control when the time comes, get the right advice and you will work it
out.”